March 2553
Earth
Sydney Australlia
ONI Bravo 6
Chapter 1
Lucy B091 walked cautiously towards the office of chief hard ass herself, Margaret Parangosky. She had quite the reputation among the soldiers as being a... Bitch to say the least. Lucy never met her for herself though, so she trashed the thoughts and rumors immediately. I'll save my reservations until after I meet the hard ass Lucy said to herself. The door came up on her quicker than she thought it would, it seemed so far away just a second ago. She knocked once.
"Come in B091. I know it's you." A crackly old voice said from in the office.
Lucy opened the door and walked in. She hadn't been called by her identification number in a very long time, everyone she knew and had worked with before had called her Lucy... She closed the door behind her, and took 3 steps in, and stood at attention. She was in the company of an Admiral, and didn't want to feel rude. Especially if the rumors were true. The last thing I'd need is to be on the bad side of a bitch. Even worse than that though, I'd hate to be on the bad side of an ONI spook, and she's both Lucy thought.
"At ease 091." Parangosky looked her over, and stood, and circled around the 5.2 foot tall Spartan III, as she slowly relaxed, but still remained stiff. "Even though I was part of the decision making of the III program, I've never been in the company of one. Especially one that would punch the scientist that made the Spartan II project possible in the face, for antagonizing a Huragok. I applaud you for that by the way 091. I've wanted to punch Halsey in the face for a very long time... I'm glad someone did though. I was elated to hear." Parangosky sat down behind her desk again, and turned her chair to look out the window. "Are you going to speak? Or stand there looking pretty, 091." Lucy didn't answer, she was used to not speaking, it was her own choice not to speak anyway. After the loss of her friends, and family, she hadn't spoke. She didn't like to. It actually hurt her to speak, it hurt her throat, and the words that came out sounds gurgled.
"I know why you don't speak." A tiny holographic box appeared infront of her, on Parangosky's desk. "Oops, silly me. I don't think we've met before Lucy, my name is Black Box, or B.B. for short. I'm the Smart A.I. designated to Parangosky. It is so very nice to meet you."
Parangosky chuckled and turned back around to face Lucy and B.B. who was now floating around the room freely. "I know why you don't speak as well. Mendez, Kelly, and Fred made remarks in their reports about how you spoke before you punched my best friend in the mouth" she said sarcastically. "I wanted to see if your dry spell was over, and if you'd talk to me." Lucy shook her head, and started to look down. "Don't worry 091, it's fine you don't speak. The silent ones are always more dangerous." Lucy perked up a little and looked Parangosky back in the eye, and saw B.B. dancing and twirling around in her peripheral vision. "I asked you here today, to see if you'd like to be sent on a special mission. As well as receive your very own A.I, and a set of your own MJOLNIR armor." Lucy looked a little more intrigued. My own A.I.? Mjolnir armor? Those special items were given to II's, not III's those aren't things that the UNSC or ONI handed out for any reason... Lucy pondered this, and looked back at the Admiral who was watching her.
"Well, you seem intrigued. Let me tell you then, why I asked you here, then, you can give me your answer." Parangosky said, starting to speak again before B.B. Spoke.
"Lucy, do you like to be called that, or your identification number better?" B.B. Stopped twirling and dancing for a minute. Lucy nodded and pointed to herself. "Admiral, would you please call Lucy, her name instead of her identification number?"
Parangosky shot a menacing glare over to B.B's hologram. "Yes, I will." She sneered. Using Lucy's real name would make things harder for her, especially with the mission she was going to be assigning her. III's were expendable... Not soldiers meant to return home to big parades and welcomes. That's why war orphans were used. If they died, no one would notice. "Lucy, I have a special mission for you. Lately, ONI has been hearing chatter on old innie radio frequencies."
B.B. Interjected again, "Innies, or, insurrectionists were part of the colony rebellion before the Covenant war. It was before your time, anyway."
Parangosky shot another glare at B.B.'s hologram, and he quickly vanished. Parangosky cleared her throat and continued, "All priority teams we would've sent on this mission are otherwise engaged right now. So we needed to find someone who wasn't. A Spartan is perfect for the job. We need you to find where the chatter is coming from, and investigate it, Lucy."
Innie investigation? I haven't heard anything about the insurrection since the first few days on Onyx... Lucy thought. She pointed to the chair, hoping Parangosky would know what she meant.
"Go ahead Lucy, take a seat. We have a lot to go over anyway." Parangosky took her own advice and sat back down as well, and looked at Lucy, and tapped her desk twice and B.B. reappeared.
"Yes ma'am?" B.B. said almost singing.
"Pull up the files on augmentation and Mjolnir so Lucy and I can go over what she'll be getting into."
"Okay, one moment." B.B. started to flicker, and the light binary you could see on him if you focused hard enough started to roll faster across him. Suddenly, more holograms appeared on Parangosky's desk, and one by one all unimportant files and reports filtered out.
"This one is the I was looking for, actually." Parangosky said as she pulled the one file off her desk into her data pad. She flicked around the pages and stopped and started to read to herself, mumbling inaudibly. "Lucy, are you sure you want to go through with this? The III's underwent slightly lessened operations than that of the II's, and frankly, I'm not sure what could happen if we put you through the same operations as the II's."
Lucy thought for a moment, she heard the rumors about the Master Chief from Mendez, Kelly, and Fred, how he was a very lucky person, and how he was a great solider. She wanted to be like him, she aspired to be a true Spartan. She desperately wanted this to happen. Lucy nodded and smiled faintly, and even Parangosky shared in the smile.
"B.B. Make arrangements for the procedure. We send Lucy to the orbital station at 0:00 hours to undergo the operations. Also, put in word to get production set on another smart A.I. We need one for Lucy. Also, get a leftover suit from the II's project, and revamp it, put all the advances we have into it. Damn things are nearly 30 years old." Parangosky's voice trailed off for a moment, then she snapped back to attention and said "Also, put contact into the others I talked to you about, we'll brief them and get them up to speed."
Lucy seemed let down a little, she wanted to work by herself. It was going to be hard to work with people when she didn't speak.
"Lucy, I suggest you start getting packed. After your operations, you will need to relearn how to control your body. It'll be hard, new body mass, quicker reaction times... You'll be a II."
She shuddered at the thought of being compared before she had a chance to prove herself, but she may as well get used to it. Lucy stood, and saluted Parangosky, and started to turn to leave before Parangosky said "I never really liked the III's, or the II's... But I had some favorites... And I'm glad to say you were one of them, Lucy. Good luck..." Lucy turned to look at her and nodded slightly, and walked out of the office, back towards her barracks.
